Overview
- Police in Limoges seized about 864 nitrous oxide bottles and 1,700 balloons from a private storage unit during a Dec. 29 drug search operation.
- The Limoges find follows December hauls across France, including nearly 3,500 bottles discovered in a Bondy storage box and an Épinay-sur-Seine arrest with 188 bottles.
- An experiment by 40 millions d'automobilistes published Dec. 30 found that even minimal inhalation on a driving simulator caused loss of control and reaction times that doubled or tripled.
- Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has said he wants nitrous oxide listed as a controlled narcotic, and officials have floated curbs such as banning public possession and transport and closing noncompliant sellers.
- Despite 2021 limits on sales to minors and certain locations, the gas remains broadly legal unless local bans are issued, while Ofast warns trafficking is expanding and several prefectures have imposed holiday-period prohibitions.